- “My name is Harvey Milk and I’m here to recruit you.” Harvey Milk
- “I cannot prevent anyone from getting angry, or mad, or frustrated. I can only hope that they’ll turn that anger and frustration and madness into something positive, so that two, three, four, five hundred will step forward, so the gay doctors will come out, the gay lawyers, the gay judges, gay bankers, gay architects … I hope that every professional gay will say ‘enough’, come forward and tell everybody, wear a sign, let the world know. Maybe that will help.” Harvey Milk, 1978
- “I fully realize that a person who stands for what I stand for, an activist, a gay activist, becomes the target or the potential target for a person who is insecure, terrified, afraid, or very disturbed with themselves.” Harvey Milk, on a tape he made to be played in the event of his assassination
- “If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.” Harvey Milk
- “The fact is that more people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any other single reason. That, that my friends, is true perversion..” Harvey Milk
- “I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. And you… And you… And you… Gotta give em hope.” Harvey Milk
- “All men are created equal. No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words.” Harvey Milk
- “You’re going to meet the most extraordinary men, the sexiest, brightest, funniest men, and you’re going to fall in love with so many of them, and you won’t know until the end of your life who your greatest friends were or your greatest love was.” Harvey Milk
- “All over the country, they’re reading about me, and the story doesn’t center on me being gay. It’s just about a gay person who is doing his job.” Harvey Milk
- “I have tasted freedom. I will not give up that which I have tasted. I have a lot more to drink. For that reason, the political numbers game will be played. I know the rules of their game now and how to play it.” Harvey Milk
- “Some people call me the unofficial mayor of Castro Street.” Harvey Milk
- “Burst down those closet doors once and for all, and stand up and start to fight.” Harvey Milk
- “All young people, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, deserve a safe and supportive environment in which to achieve their full potential.” Harvey Milk
- “It takes no compromising to give people their rights. It takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no survey to remove repressions.” Harvey Milk, in a 1973 speech during his first unsuccessful run for supervisor
- “I have tasted freedom. I will not give up that which I have tasted. I have a lot more to drink. For that reason, the political numbers game will be played. I know the rules of their game now and how to play it.” Harvey Milk, in his 1973 concession speech
- “You’ve got to promise me one thing. You’ve got to help bring gays into the Teamsters Union. We buy a lot of beer that the union delivers. It’s only fair that we get a share of the jobs.” Harvey Milk to Allan Baird, Teamsters Union representative and director of the Coors Beer boycott in California, who asked Milk to support the strike against six major beer distributors
- “Some people call me the unofficial mayor of Castro Street.” Harvey Milk, from his 1973 campaign speech
- “It’s not my victory, it’s yours and yours and yours. If a gay can win, it means there is hope that the system can work for all minorities if we fight. We’ve given them hope.” Harvey Milk, after winning a seat on the Board of Supervisors in 1977
- “People thought the pope would run the country. But after six months in office, when Kennedy started to do things, people never questioned him again. If I do a good job, people won’t care if I am green or have three heads.” Harvey Milk, the day after his 1977 election to the Board of Supervisors
- “Here’s to homogeneity.” Harvey Milk, toasting with the patrons of the Eureka, one of the last straight bars in the Castro, a few weeks before his death.
- “If I turned around every time somebody called me a faggot, I’d be walking backward – and I don’t want to walk backward.” Harvey Milk, quoted in The Chronicle
Also see the Wikiquote Harvey Milk page.
